Stimulus plan

Wednesday

Jan 16, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Anne D’innocenzio THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Why wait on Washington when there’s Wal-Mart?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer and the biggest private employer in the U.S., with 1.4 million workers here, said Tuesday that it is rolling out a three-part plan to help jump-start the sluggish U.S. economy.

The plan includes hiring more than 100,000 veterans in the next five years, spending $50 billion to buy more American-made merchandise in the next 10 years and helping its part-time workers move into full-time positions.

The move comes as Wal-Mart tries to bolster its image amid widespread criticism. The company, which often is criticized for its low-paying jobs and buying habits in the U.S., recently has faced allegations that it made bribes in Mexico and calls for better safety oversight after a deadly fire at a Bangladesh factory that supplies its clothes. Wal-Mart said its initiatives are unrelated to those events, and rather are meant to highlight what companies can contribute to the economy.

“We’ve developed a national paralysis that’s driven by all of us waiting for someone else to do something,” Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart’s U.S. business, said Tuesday at an annual retail industry convention in New York. “The beauty of the private sector is that we don’t have to win an election, convince Congress or pass a bill to do what we think is right. We can simply move forward, doing what we know is right.”

Any change that Wal-Mart makes to its hiring and buying practices garners lots of attention because of the company’s massive size. Indeed, with $444 billion in annual revenue, if Wal-Mart were a country, it would rank among the largest economies in the world. But critics say the changes amount to a drop in the bucket for the behemoth, and they question whether Wal-Mart’s initiatives will have a major impact on the U.S. economy.

“They sound impressive when you first hear the numbers, but when you begin to look at them, it’s a very tiny scale that doesn’t add up to much,” said Stacy Mitchell, senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self Reliance, a nonprofit national research organization.

The centerpiece of Wal-Mart’s plan is a pledge to hire veterans, many of who have had a particularly difficult time finding work after coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq. The unemployment rate for veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan stood at 10.8 percent in December, compared with the overall unemployment rate of 7.8 percent.

Wal-Mart said it plans to hire every veteran who wants a job and has been honorably discharged in the first 12 months off active duty. The program, which will start on Memorial Day, will include jobs mostly in Wal-Mart’s stores or in its Sam’s Club locations. Some will be at its headquarters, based in Bentonville, Ark., or the company’s distribution centers.

Dave Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company hasn’t worked out the details but it will “match up the veterans’ experience and qualifications.” Simon, who served in the Navy, said that veterans have “a record of performance under pressure” and “they’re quick learners.”

“I think that Wal-Mart has a tremendous opportunity to leverage operational skills that today’s veterans bring,” said Sean Collins, director of G.I. Jobs, a magazine and website that highlight employment, education and small business opportunities for veterans.

Wal-Mart said First Lady Michelle Obama, who spearheaded a White House drive to encourage businesses to hire veterans, has expressed interest in working with Wal-Mart and with the rest of the business community on this initiative.

The first lady on Tuesday called Wal-Mart’s announcement “historic.”

“We all believe that no one who serves our country should have to fight for a job once they return home,” she said in a statement. “Wal-Mart is setting a groundbreaking example for the private sector to follow.”

In addition to hiring veterans, Wal-Mart plans to spend $50 billion to buy more products made in the U.S. over the next 10 years.